


Like a King

by editingatwork



Series: Beautiful, Dirty, Rich [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: AU, Implied Bullying, M/M, Teenage AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 05:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8315917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/editingatwork/pseuds/editingatwork
Summary: Kent's not sure how his utter failure to impress Alexei Mashkov ended with him getting a date, but he's gonna roll with it.





	

 

Kent calls Alexei that same day. He’ll probably go to his grave still embarrassed about his stunt in the tailor’s shop, but he got a phone number. Clearly he did  _something_  right.

The person who answers on the third ring has a deeper voice and a thicker Russian accent than Kent remembers on Alexei.

“Hello, Mashkov residence.”

“Hi,” Kent says. “My name is Kent. I’m calling for Alexei?”

“Are you a friend of his?”

What was this, an interrogation? “Yeah. We, uh, we met at the shop the other day. I was looking for something in my size and he helped me out.” Kent has more practice lying than most people he knows. “We got to talking, and he gave me his number so we could hang out sometime.” Kent just hopes Mr. Mashkov doesn’t ask  _what_  all he and Alexei talked about, since Kent knows exactly fuckall about Alexei except that he’s hot, Russian, and sassy.

“So, uh,” Kent adds. “Is he home?”

“Please wait a moment,” Mr. Mashkov replies, and Kent hears a scratching noise as the phone is put aside. Distantly he hears Alexei’s name being called, along with some other words that Kent doesn’t understand.

The phone clatters again, and Alexei says, “Hello?”

“Hey. It’s me, Kent.”

“It’s good to hear from you.”

“Yeah, well. You said ‘call me,’ so this is me, calling you. Didn’t want you thinking I was all talk and no balls.”

“Of course not,” Alexei says. “Well, I am not-- I  _do not_  think that now.”

“Good. Glad to hear that.” Kent feels like this conversation is being awkward, but fuck him if he knows why. “So, uh, tell me to fuck off if I’m misreading you mailing back my Amex and giving me your number on a fancy card, but did you wanna, like, go out? On a date or something.”

“Yes, that sounds good. Where do you want to go?” It’s such a rote response. It doesn’t sound  _anything_  like the smooth operator in Mashkov Tailors who looked Kent up and down and said,  _If I’m let you spoil me, what I’m give you in return?_

Kent’s still got him on the phone, though, and he’s gonna assume that counts for something until Alexei tells him to fuck off or hangs up. “Shit, I don’t know. Where do  _you_  wanna go? I wasn’t kidding about being loaded. I’ll take you anywhere, let you do anything I can pay for. Within, you know, legality,” he adds, because he really does know  _fuckall_  about Alexei Mashkov and his dad could be in the mafia. “I draw the line at criminal activities.”

Alexei laughs. Stilted, somewhat, but it’s there, and afterwards he sounds more relaxed. “That is generous.”

“I’m just trying to impress you, baby,” Kent says, laying on the sugar. “I crashed and burned last time. I wanna make it up to you. Let me spoil you a little, come on. What do you wanna do? Tell me.”

He hears Alexei swallow. A voice in the background asks something in Russian, and Alexei replies with the same. He takes a breath. “Let’s go to the zoo.”

Kent  _cannot_  have heard that right. “Is that a restaurant? A shopping center?”

“No,” and  _now_  Kent hears a smile. “I mean the Bronx Zoo. With animals.”

 _You have_ got  _to be kidding_ , Kent nearly says. “I. Yeah, sure. We can do that. You wanna go today, or...?”

“I am busy today. Tomorrow is okay.”

“Okay, cool. I’ve got practice in the morning but my whole afternoon’s free. What time should I pick you up?”

“I will meet you there, if you don’t mind.”

 _I drive a Porsche_ , Kent wants to yell, and says, “Don’t mind at all. Two-ish okay?”

“How about two-thirty? I will meet you at the entrance. Outside.”

“It’s a date,” Kent says cheerily, while meanwhile mentally shrieking,  _I think?!_

Alexei coughs. “Yes.”

They hang up and the whole rest of Kent’s day is spent picking apart that conversation.

\--

“I have a date later, Zimms.”

“Oh?” Jack smiles in that innocent way he does when he thinks if he sits back and waits, Kent will do all the work of embarrassing himself on his own. Kent kinda hates it because he’s usually right. Jack slaps a puck towards the goal. It hits the pipe and goes wide. “Is this with the Russian guy?”

“Yep. And you will never guess where we’re going.” Kent takes a shot on the goal and it goes in clean.

“You’re right, I won’t.” Jack’s next puck hits net.

Jack never gives him the satisfaction of a dramatic reveal. Kent smacks another shot and misses horribly. “The Bronx Zoo. I waved my credit limit under his nose and he said he wanted to go to the zoo.  _Completely serious_. What the fuck do I do with that?”

Jack shrugs. “Go to the zoo, I guess.” He puts his stick against a puck but doesn’t shoot. “I’m really happy for you.”

Kent always knew they wouldn’t work, even before Jack broke it off, and he’s happier keeping Jack’s friendship than having clung to him until he tore up every last good thing between them, but still. He sometimes wishes Jack wasn’t so kind. “Thanks, man.”

Jack smiles, and shoots. “Good luck.”

Kent’s next shot is perfect.

\--

He gets to the Bronx Zoo at two thirty-five. Alexei is waiting for him at the entrance, as promised. He’s as tall and beefy as Kent remembers, and looks just as good in a t-shirt and clean denim jeans as he did in a tailored two-piece suit on a pedestal. Better, actually, because instead of standing all poised and elegant and untouchable, he’s got his hands in his pockets and a flushed, earnest look on his face as he scans the crowds for Kent. When he catches sight of him, he breaks into a smile and waves.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“It is okay. I’m not—I did not wait long.” Alexei shrugs, hands still in his pockets. Kent can see the fabric of his t-shirt shift against the muscle underneath and hot damn, that is nice.

“Did you already buy a ticket?”

“No.”

“Good.” Kent yanks out his wallet. “’Cause this date is one hundred percent on me.”

They go through the ticket counter and then the turnstiles at the entrance. Kent nabs one of the zoo maps from a kiosk by the gate and finds a shady tree to stand under. The day is hot as all get out and the sun has no business being that bright. Kent opens the map and holds it at an angle so they can both see it. While Alexei leans close and carefully peruses the exhibits, Kent gets a not-so-subtle look at Alexei’s finer features. He’s got a long face with rounded-off angles, and there’s no telling whether that’s baby fat or just him. His nose is enormous and his eyes chocolate brown, with lashes so thick they wouldn’t just catch snowflakes, they’d hold a whole snow drift. Kent kind of wants to run his thumb over them to see if they feel as soft as they look.

Alexei notices him looking. “You like what you see?”

“Fuck, yes. You got lashes like a camel.”

Alexei scrunches his adorably big nose. “That is compliment?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.” He sounds dubious but not offended. He goes back to the map and points. “Is it okay we see penguins first?”

They walk to the Aquatic Bird House. Kent tries to keep up conversation, but it’s... well, it’s kinda awkward. Alexei nods and smiles and offers some responses, but he doesn’t really talk. It’s not what Kent was  _expecting_  when he got that card in the mail. The Alexei who wrote that card knew what he wanted and he was out to get it. The Alexei in the suit who casually flirted with Kent and looked him up and down like he was imagining Kent with his clothes off sat in the driver’s seat of his own destiny with one hand on the wheel and one foot on the gas.

The Alexei who holds the door open for Kent as they head into the Bird House feels like he’s just along for the ride.

At least the penguins are hella cute.

\--

After the penguins, they visit the lemur and sea lion exhibits. Conversation stays to safe topics like how interesting the animals are and what foods they like. Kent’s almost thankful when his stomach growls. “I ate after practice, but all this walking around has me hungry again. You wanna grab a late lunch?” He checks his watch. “Early dinner, I guess?”

“Sure.”

They find an indoor food court. Kent tries to recapture some of the magic by sweeping a hand across the overhead menu and giving Alexei a wink. “Pick your poison, babe.”

Alexei smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, and when Kent hands over his Amex to pay for their combined meals, it’s not  _nearly_  as rewarding as he’d imagined it would be. Even with the large milkshakes.

Because it’s getting late, the place is packed. There isn’t a square inch of table space available. Alexei nudges him and points outside, where the building’s wall-to-wall windows have a low ledge along the entire bottom rim. It’s about a foot deep and a foot off the ground, perfect for kindergartners but a little ungainly for two teen boys. Especially Alexei. His knees are almost up to his chest.

Kent sucks on his milkshake and resents the fuck out of the silence that falls between them.

After a while, Alexei sighs. “I’m sorry. I am bad date.”

Kent jumps to refute that way too fast. When his stumbling attempt at reassurance peters out, Alexei gives him an apologetic look and then turns his gaze to his box of French fries. “It is okay. I know. Zoo was stupid idea.”

“It’s  _not_  stupid,” Kent says, and he means that. “It’s--okay, it’s not what I expected, when I invited you to blow my money, but-- Look. I don’t hate it. I’m having fun.”

Alexei gives him a look that screams  _You’re full of shit._

“Okay, I’m a little bored out of my mind, but it’s not the locale. I’m me, I can make literally  _anywhere_  fun, and if you don’t believe me, I’ve got my Aunt Tessa on speed-dial who will recount the story of how I turned her stuffy excuse for a teen birthday bash into a pool party. And Aunt Tessa doesn’t even  _have_  a pool. That’s how good I am.”

The corner of Alexei’s mouth twitches as he tries not to smile. It’s almost a carbon copy of his expression when Kent first started chatting him up in the shop. Seeing a hint of the Alexei from before fills Kent with such relief it’s like getting off the ice after a nasty check and finding out he still has all his teeth. “See, now  _there’s_  a smile. I think you like it when I brag.”

Alexei bites his lip and turns away. “You not as charming as you think you are.”

“Bullshit, I’m fucking irresistible.”

A laugh tries to escape Alexei and ends up an inelegant snort.

“So?” Kent scoots close and dares nudge Alexei’s shoulder with his. “What’s the deal?”

Alexei turns his head to face him, and they’re so close. Kent’s got vanilla milkshake coating his tongue and he suddenly wants to know how it would mix with Alexei’s fries. Alexei’s so pretty up close, big nose and everything, and that’s probably not a word a guy would want to hear applied to any bit of him, but god, Kent feels that adjective in his  _bones_.

Alexei does not kiss him. He says, “I don’t date very much.”

“Are you shitting me? When I came onto you at your dad’s store, you had so much game. I thought I was gonna catch fire when you asked me to spoil you. And then sending my own Amex with a Thank You card suggesting I didn’t have to balls to call you?  _Genius_. I am in awe.” Kent waves a hand at their general vicinity. “How do you not have guys lined up around the block twenty-four seven?”

Now, Alexei drops his gaze to the gravel. There’s a long pause. “My English is not so good.”

And there’s... there’s  _so much_  implied with that simple sentence. Kent feels like someone sucker punched the wind right out of him; like he’s been dropped in ice water.

Alexei’s looking at the ground and Kent doesn’t know what to say.

“ _Fuck_ them,” he manages. His voice cracks in the middle. “Fuck the lot of them. You’re funny, you’re hot, and you let me take you out on a date after I made a colossal idiot of myself.  _I_  like you,” he adds, in case that wasn’t clear, and because it’s true. “I know the day’s nearly gone, but this date is still salvageable. If you want it to be.”

Alexei turns his gaze up to Kent, whose palms are sweating a bit. Based on that expression, he has no idea what answer he’ll get.

He  _does not expect_  Alexei to lean in and peck him softly on the lips.

Okay,  _now_  Kent feels like the wind’s been knocked out of him. “Is that a yes or a parting shot?”

“Is yes.” Alexei’s smile is brilliant. “Is big yes.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> cry with me in rarepair hell on [tumblr](http://punmasterkentparson.tumblr.com/).


End file.
